Smart Water Management: Workforce, Technology, and Economic Development

About this Event

Public utilities for water and waste water face two major trends: retirement of managers from the “baby boomer” generation and the need to bring in workers and train mid-level managers; and “smart” technology innovation that is changing data and operations framework for water utilities. At the same time, Northeast Ohio is home to a growing water technology sector; combined with our location on the Great Lakes, this can stimulate new economic value and jobs. What are the knowledge and skills that next generation water and wastewater managers will need into the future that will let them manage “smart” water systems in a “smart” way? What are the water cluster jobs of the future? How can the presence of a robust water cluster in the region add value to water utilities? A group of regional water and waste water, workforce, and economic development experts will provide their views and discuss the strategies they are using to transition into the next generation of best practices and management.

Panelists

Todd Danielson
Chief Utilities Executive
Avon Lake Regional Water

Since 2010, Todd Danielson has served as the Chief Utilities Executive of Avon Lake Regional Water, a progressive water and wastewater utility in Avon Lake, Ohio. Avon Lake Regional Water’s mission is to provide the region with quality water services. The utility provides water services to over 200,000 residents living in the seven-county area surrounding Avon Lake and sanitary sewer services to about 30,000 residents living in Avon Lake and parts of Lorain County. A professional engineer by training, Mr. Danielson applies progressive and proactive practices to help Avon Lake Regional Water serve as a utility where customers don’t have to think twice about their water and wastewater services.

Mr. Foley began his career with the District as an operator at the Southerly Wastewater Treatment Center in 1988. In his current role, he oversees the operation and maintenance of the District’s three wastewater treatment plants, the collection system and affiliated budget centers. Prior to his appointment as Director of Operation and Maintenance, Mr. Foley held various positions in both the Operation and Maintenance and Watershed Programs Departments, including Shift Manager at the Easterly Wastewater Treatment Plant, Superintendent of Environmental Services, Superintendent at the Westerly Wastewater Treatment Center, and Deputy Director of Operation and Maintenance. Mr. Foley holds a Bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Dayton and a Master of Business Administration from Cleveland State University. He is certified by the Ohio EPA as a Class IV Wastewater Operator.

Grace A. Kilbane
Executive Director, Cleveland/Cuyahoga County Workforce Development Board
City of Cleveland

Grace A. Kilbane was appointed by Mayor Frank Jackson as the Executive Director of the Cleveland/Cuyahoga County Workforce Development Board and of OhioMeansJobs|Cleveland-Cuyahoga County in July of 2014.

Prior to her appointment with the City, Kilbane served as a senior career executive with the United States Department of Labor/Employment & Training Administration in many key roles for the agency. Nationally, she led the creation and operation of the one-stop career center system; headed employment and training programs for youth and adults under the Workforce Investment Act; directed the unemployment insurance system; served as a national director of Job Corps; and implemented foreign worker programs such as the H-1B Visa. She also served as Regional Administrator for the Boston region and the Kansas City region.

Kilbane also formerly served as Deputy Administrator and Acting Administrator of the Ohio Bureau of Employment Services for nearly six years. Before working for the state, she was implemented and served as the first Director of the Cuyahoga County Witness/Victim Service Center.

Kilbane earned a Law Degree and a Master of Science Degree in Urban Studies from Cleveland State University. She and her husband are happy to be back home in Cleveland.

Wendy A. Kellogg is a Professor of Urban Planning and Environmental Studies. Dr. Kellogg earned her Ph.D. (City and Regional Planning) at Cornell University in 1993. Her major fields of research interest are local government environmental protection, urban and regional sustainability, neighborhood sustainability, and Great Lakes water quality and land use issues. She has published analyses of Great Lakes water quality planning programs and citizen participation in neighborhood-based environmental planning. Her research projects have included an environmental history and inventory of a neighborhood in central Cleveland, Ohio, the role of local decision makers in coastal and watershed protection, and the role of training programs in shaping local decision maker behavior toward coastal management. She currently is conducting research on collaborative environmental planning processes, including governance systems in the Chagrin River Valley in Northeast Ohio. Dr. Kellogg was a USEPA-funded Fellow at the CSU Program on Risk Analysis in 2000-2001. Dr. Kellogg was a member of the Ohio Lake Erie Commission Blue Ribbon Taskforce on Balanced Growth in the Lake Erie Basin in 2001-2004 and has continued her work with the Balanced Growth program in a research and technical advisory role. She currently represents Cleveland State on the Cleveland Water Alliance. Dr. Kellogg teaches courses in urban planning, environmental planning, environmental policy, and urban studies. Dr. Kellogg was Chair of the Department of Urban Studies from 2007-2012, Associate Dean of Research at the Levin College from 2012-2016, and is again Chair of the Department of Urban Studies beginning in 2016.